I always welcome the opportunity to test drive my skills on family and friends. So when one of my best friends asked me to help whip her kitchen pantry into shape, I jumped at the chance.
The first thing we did was take inventory of her pantry’s contents. You’ll be amazed at what you find when you step back and assess what’s in your pantry. We were able to toss expired food, determine what did not belong in the pantry, and take stock of duplicate items.
Once we purged the pantry, we sorted everything into “families.” For example, spices are in one family while pasta is in another. It’s at this time that we made a list of storage options for each family. Sometimes it may be easier for you to purchase storage items before the project starts and return what you don’t use. Other times, it may be easier for you to purchase the items after you’ve purged and created your families. In this case, we decided on the latter.
So off we went to Bed Bath and Beyond, Ross, and Michael’s. I have a million and one Bed Bath and Beyond coupons, so I knew we needed to stop there first. Sometimes, the “obvious” organizational bins and containers are a bit pricey. A great idea is to splurge on some things and improvise on others. We found a pack of shoe organizers that we used as storage bins. We went the traditional route with spice racks and turntables. God bless the turntable!
Check out the before and after pictures below.
BEFORE
AFTER
